The national seminary at Maynooth has discussed how the college's
programme can be updated to train future priests to celebrate the
Tridentine Mass.
It comes after a new Vatican document (Universae
Ecclesiae) on the 'extraordinary form' Latin Mass said ''future priests
should be given proper formation, including study of Latin and, where
pastoral needs suggest it, the opportunity to learn the forma
extraordinaria of the Roman Rite''.
Maynooth president Msgr Hugh Connolly told The Irish Catholic that
the college has ''had discussions in recent months as to how this
curriculum may be supplemented to include an introduction to celebrating
in the extraordinary form''.
He said that other seminaries in these islands sometimes provide
courses in the Tridentine Mass for seminarians and that Maynooth ''is
also very happy to host or indeed organise one of these courses in the
future''.
However, he warned that a ''judicious balance must always be sought
between the disparities of aptitudes and abilities for Latin among
seminarians, the need for a dignified celebration of the Holy Eucharist
whether in the ordinary or extraordinary form; and gauging the likely
extent of pastoral demand for these services at parish level''.
The new Vatican instruction insists that to celebrate the
extraordinary form, a sufficient knowledge of Latin ''allowing the
priest to pronounce the words correctly and understand their meaning''
is required.